Maps &

Handouts
 Player: Suit: ♣ ♠ ♦ ♥
Character: Off-Suit: ♥ ♣ ♠ ♦

: HP:
♣Muscle: ♠Speed: ♦Wits: ♥Craft:
♣Fighting: ♠Guile: ♦Learning: ♥Devices:
Player: Suit: ♣ ♠ ♦ ♥
Character: Off-Suit: ♥ ♣ ♠ ♦

: HP:
♣Muscle: ♠Speed: ♦Wits: ♥Craft:
♣Fighting: ♠Guile: ♦Learning: ♥Devices:
Player: Suit: ♣ ♠ ♦ ♥
Character: Off-Suit: ♥ ♣ ♠ ♦

: HP:
♣Muscle: ♠Speed: ♦Wits: ♥Craft:
♣Fighting: ♠Guile: ♦Learning: ♥Devices:
Player: Suit: ♣ ♠ ♦ ♥
Character: Off-Suit: ♥ ♣ ♠ ♦

: HP:
♣Muscle: ♠Speed: ♦Wits: ♥Craft:
♣Fighting: ♠Guile: ♦Learning: ♥Devices:
 Con Of
The Dead
Double 'R' Hotel
Lobby
Double 'R' Hotel
Hall 2
Double 'R' Hotel
Hall 3
The Empire's
Finest
The Duchamps
Mine Bounty
The Arcas
5000
 J - Non-specific Engine Failure = -4 to all Driving Checks,
Pack Draws
Car instantly reduced to 1HP
Q - Instrument Glitch = No penalty, instruments come
A - Draw for pack back on line next round.
2 - Draw for pack* K - Auto Repair Initiator = Trade in to immediately begin
3 - Collide with one opponent already duelling repairs.
4 - Collide with one opponent
5 - Collide with one opponent already duelling* Resources
6 - Collide with one opponent*
7 - Pack of two opponents
A Defence - Smoke: +1 Duel Defence Checks
8 - Pack of two opponents*
9 - Pack of one opponent
2 Defence - Oil: +1 Duel Defence Checks +1 Defensive
10 - Pack of one opponent* Driving Checks
J - Collide With one opponent. Draw for pack. 3 Defence - Caltrops: +2 Duel Defence Checks +1 Defensive
Q - Clear Run* Driving Checks
K - Environment Switch - Player Initiated = Trade In To Switch 4 Defence - Target Jammer: +3 Duel Defence Checks +2
Environments. Defensive Driving Checks
5 Boost - NOS: +3 Defensive Driving Checks
Driver Incident
6 Boost - Turbo Activated: +4 Defensive Driving Checks
7 Attack - Wheel Spikes: +1 Duel Offence Checks +1
A - Skid Out^
2 - Obstacle Hit^ Offensive Driving Checks
3 - Environment Switch Forced^ 8 Attack - Mines: +2 Duel Offence Checks +1 Offensive
4 - Lose Ground ^ Driving Checks
5 - Defensive Recovery +1 To Defence/Defensive Driving Checks 9 Attack - Chain Guns: +3 Duel Offence Checks +1
6 - Defensive Advantage +2 To Defence/Defensive Driving Checks Offensive Driving Checks 3 Uses
7 - Offensive Position Taken +1 To Offence/Offensive Driving 10 Attack - Homing Missiles: +4 Duel Offence Checks 6
Checks Uses
8 - Resource Unlocked*
J Resource Fails To Initialise
9 - Environment Switch Opportunity*
Q EMP Emitter Charge: Duel Ends other car dies.
10 - Offensive Opportunity* +2 To Offence/Offensive Driving
Checks K Resource On Demand = Trade in for a further resource
J - Engine Hazard draw at any time.
Q - Prime Offensive Position* +4 To Offence/Offensive Driving
Checks
K - Environment Switch - Player Initiated = Trade in to switch Close Shaves
environments.
A - 4: Roll off the bonnet, twist ankle -1 to next On Foot
Incidents marked (*) unlock a resource. Draw to find out which. check.
Incidents marked (^) force the player to make a defensive draw. 5 - 6: Whiff of burning rubber.
Drawing less than 6 results in 1 HP of damage. 7 - 10: Jump, tuck, roll, run +1 to next On Foot Check
J Tyre Tracks all across your back -2 to next On Foot Check
Engine Hazards
Q Escape route identified move to killbot rounds
A - Power Steering Failure = -1 to all Driving Checks immediately.
2 - Weapon Systems Jam (Defensive) = Lose all Defensive K Second chance.
Resources
3 - Weapon Systems Jam (Offensive) = Lose all Offensive Resources Player Hazard
4 - Brake Failure = -2 to all Driving Checks
5 - Engine Control System Failure  = -3 to all Driving Checks A - 4: Minefield activated. Draw again. Below 6 lose 1 HP
6 - Fuel System Failure = -4 to all Driving Checks 5 - 6: Killbot attack-Dart guns. Draw again. Below 5 lose
7 - Gear Jam = -2 to all Driving Checks and one Driver Incident
1HP
Every Turn
7 - 10: Machine gun nest activated. Draw again. Below 6
8 - Interior Atmospherics Offline = -3 to all Driving Checks and
loss of one Player (not car) HP every two turns until fixed. lose 2 HP. Below 8 lose 1.
9 - Comms Systems Jammed = -1 to all Driving Checks No pit J Homing missiles. Automatically lose 1 HP
checks until environment change.  Q Killbot guidance failure shorten on foot time by 1 round.
10 - Tertiary Systems Offline = -4 to all Driving Checks, Loss of 1 K Redraw.
Car HP every round until fixed.
Environments
Hearts - Unstable = Pontoon highways over deep chasms,
mountainous ridged terrain. All Defensive and Competitive
checks made in this environment at -1 all offensive checks
at +1.
Diamonds - Desert = Road through sand, the preferred
competitor's environment. Pit checks complete in one
round less.
Clubs - Landscaped = Road through forest, tall trees
interfere with pit comms. Pit checks complete in one
round more.
Spades - Urban = Simulated street racing, fast and
competitive, better drivers have an edge. All Defensive
checks made at +1 all Offensive checks made at -1.
Combat Draw Summary
1) Host draws opponent card, views it, describes in general
terms how good it looks (e.g. 6 of spades, "The opponent
looks like he's getting in position to ram you but he's not
the world's best driver. He's still competent though." 9 of
diamonds "The opponent is weaving back and forth,
dropping back, pulling forward he seems to be leading the
dance, trying to put you off".)
2) Player chooses action.
3) Player draws.
4) Player Wins opponent undergoes Driver Incident
Check, player loses player undergoes DI check. In case of
extremes loser loses some HP to your discretion.
5) Back to 1 for next round until somebody's dead. Or
environment change.
 Resources Offensive Defensive

Suit: ♣ ♠ ♦ ♥

Car HP:

Resources Offensive Defensive

Suit: ♣ ♠ ♦ ♥

Car HP:

Resources Offensive Defensive

Suit: ♣ ♠ ♦ ♥

Car HP:

Resources Offensive Defensive

Suit: ♣ ♠ ♦ ♥

Car HP:
 GM Reference
NPC Cars Are:

Tyler May:
Steven Masenko:
Black Knight:
Devon Marcus:
Racers HP:

♣ ♠ ♦ ♥
A A A A

2 2 2 2

3 3 3 3

4 4 4 4

5 5 5 5

6 6 6 6

7 7 7 7

8 8 8 8

9 9 9 9

10 10 10 10

J J J J

Q Q Q Q

k k k k
Black Lake
Captain Ray Kipling (Suit: Hearts Hits: 4)

Muscle 1 Speed 0 Wits 2 Craft 0

Fighting 1 Guile -1 Learning 0 Devices 3

Notes

Ray Kipling was born at the water's edge and was taught about the operation of seagoing
vessels by his father. It was a natural move to the Merchant Navy when he was old enough
and from there to a fifteen year career that had brought him to a boathouse on the coast by
the Indian Ocean and a life skipping from port to port around Asia and down to the South
Pacific.

Gina is the daughter of his old Navy buddy Sean. Sean died in a storm and Ray met Gina at
his funeral. She was a wild kid, she knew her way around a riceburner and had done a little
time for Street Racing related crimes. Ray knew that unless he got her out of the spiral she
would end up dead or worse. So he offered her a job, adventure on the high seas. He still
doesn't know why she said yes.

Ray has no children of his own and feels very protective of Gina.

A few weeks ago the accounts for Kipling Shipping and Marine Logistics were not looking
so hot. He only had one cargo hauler where he'd used to have three. Then there was the
Rhonda Redoubt, just a short run charter vessel. The two of them weren't supporting the
business between them. Ray was already running the business on a skeleton crew.

When Gina spotted this gig on an internet message board Ray hadn't been confident that it
wouldn't be a practical joke. But the artic came, the Rhonda Redoubt was hoisted from the
Indian Ocean and they drove overland into some godforsaken backwater of the Baltics.

There was a coach waiting there for Gina and him. A coach which had transported eight of
the company's representatives out here too. Eight people on the Rhonda Redoubt was going
to be a tight squeeze. He hoped that they did actually manage to salvage the missing boat
from the choppy waters of Black Lake.
First Mate Gina Mahon (Suit: Spades Hits: 3)

Muscle 0 Speed 2 Wits 2 Craft 1

Fighting 0 Guile 2 Learning -1 Devices 1

Notes

When Gina had first met Captain Ray (some of the crew members less proficient in the
English Language that he had employed called him that, it had become his nickname) she
had assumed he would be a tough and distant SOB like her late father. When it turned out
he was a warm and responsible soul she had decided that he was someone who she would
count as a friend forever. When he offered her a job she leapt at it.

Captain Ray was a nice guy and pretty sharp for an old geezer but he just didn't have any
nouse. For a business owner that was fatal more often than not. So Gina started to take care
of the business negotiations and Tony let her.

That was a leap forward from her dad and, she reflected, the ricers she used to hang out with
in Tokyo. Until Ray came along she realised she had become used to not being trusted, and
to exploiting the fact that she wasn't trusted. Ray was so naive he didn't even fit into that
pattern of relationships. To innocent Captain Ray Gina was his late pal's daughter and that
meant he had to take care of her. He was a sweet guy and Gina was determined he should
remain so.

She'd seen what losing everything could do to a man. She'd seen it with her own dad. So
when the money started to leak out of Kipling Shipping and Marine Logistics Gina had
looked about desperately for a money spinner. This had seemed a pretty desperate kind of
job but it had panned out.

Gina's feeling pretty smug now and can't see why it is that Ray's edgy. Sure these company
types are stuffed shirts but it's only a night's salvage work and that should support the
company for the next couple of years. Maybe even help it start to grow again with her help.
Captain Tony Moore (Suit: Diamonds Hits: 4)

Muscle 0 Speed 0 Wits 2 Craft 1

Fighting 1 Guile 0 Learning -1 Devices 3

Notes

Tony Moore has been a sea captain for over a decade. He took a position with the Marine RD fleet
because it seemed like a good way to spend the years before retirement. He's creeping up on his mid
fifties and whenever a chance comes up to transfer to a seemingly less responsible boat he jumps at
the chance.

So when the HV Vanguard had been scheduled for some fairly run of the mill activity in the Gulf of
Riga it seemed chilly but fairly boring. As far as he knew it was just ferrying bits of lab equipment
between some leftovers Marine RD had bought up in some of the former Soviet countries.

Then there was that night a month ago. He had been sitting on the bridge, nice and toasty from
most of a bottle of Single Malt and he'd seen it. What "it" was is uncertain to him even now. A guy
in an experimental wetsuit? Some kind of disease victim?

He wasn't too big a man to admit he'd been a coward. Crouching behind the instrument panel,
shaking. He was pretty sure the grunts hadn't seen him, even though all the lights were on on the
bridge.

Then, this one off transfer. The excuse was that he was the closest off duty Captain to the site of the
RV Intrepid's last known position. For the right guy in the right place at the right time a position
with Marine RD is a cushy number, easy work, lots of pay. But if you see the wrong thing, hear the
wrong thing then life could rapidly become a short term proposition.

Even Captain Moore can't remain completely oblivious to Marine RD's shadier business dealings.
Marine RD is more than just a thief in the night. They're almost no better than rapists as far as the
ocean is concerned. Their ethical threshold is very low indeed.

Not that Tony Moore cares about any of that. He just wants them to know that he doesn't care what
he saw on the deck of the Vanguard that night. He'd just as soon have not seen it and he doesn't
want to die. He has already decided that this jaunt with Marine RD is to be his last.

Now all he has to do is survive the night.

First Mate Simon Keating (Suit: Clubs Hits: 4)

Muscle 3 Speed 1 Wits -1 Craft 0

Fighting 1 Guile -1 Learning 0 Devices 2

Notes

When Simon's brother Harry joined up with the Merchant Navy in 1996 all Simon had
wanted to do was follow in his older brother's footsteps. So when he followed Harry into a
life on the seas he was overjoyed. When the opportunity came up to work on the same fleet
as Harry it had been too good to be true.

Of course Harry had told Simon long before about Marine RD's weird recruitment policy
when it came to family. They liked to keep familial ties off their vessels at all costs. So
whereas Harry had used their family name of Black, Simon had been careful to enrol using
their mother's maiden name. He had never mentioned to anyone that Harry was his brother
and Harry had returned the favour.

So when Harry had gone missing on the RV Intrepid and Simon had volunteered for the
rescue mission with the excuse that he needed the extra money, it didn't raise too many
eyebrows. Of course if anyone from the company found out the truth then it could mean
the end of his career, or worse. He knows as well as anyone that Marine RD pay well
because they demand a lot and have some less than ethical business practices.

But nothing will stop Simon finding out what happened to Harry. Not the company and not
any mythical monsters that live under the surface of Black Lake.
Leonard Bolan (Suit: Hearts Hits: 4)

Muscle 0 Speed 2 Wits 2 Craft -1

Fighting 1 Guile 2 Learning 1 Devices -1

Notes

Len Bolan doesn't even know why he's been sent here. He came up to a pleasant level in
Marine RD middle management and now he's happy to sit put. It's tougher nearer the top
and being the Executive in charge of the South Baltic Fleet is about as tough as Len likes it.

Len has always been of the opinion that it is easier to fight to maintain a position than it is
to maintain it while trying to get higher still. He's wondering whether that was a wise
philosophy now. He's pretty certain that Randolph Baker the Finnish Operations Manager
has had his eye on Len's office and he's pretty chummy with some of the Operations
Directors in the German HQ.

Of course, it's not as if losing the RV Intrepid was exactly a small thing. It's apparently some
state of the art boat with all sorts of expensive kit on it. It's an expensive asset that had been
given a job by the New Acquisitions department. Marine RD were expanding into parts of
the ex-Soviet countries decommissioned Naval facilities and it wouldn't surprise him if
there wasn't more beneath the surface of Black Lake than some mythical beastie.

While it wasn't Len's job to ask questions this wasn't anything like a plum assignment. It
wasn't even a mediocre one. This was a bad job, this was the kind of job people went on
only to not return.

Not that Len hadn't been here before. He wasn't the top man of the South Baltic Fleet
management team for nothing. He just hated it when it came time to dig through the muck
and start ruining other people's careers. He was pretty sure that if he were to prod around
hard enough he could probably take out Wise, Pepper, Killian and Moore. He'd heard
whispers about all of them. Maybe it was time to bury a few colleagues in order to avoid
being buried himself.
Sarah Wise (Suit: Diamonds Hits: 3)

Muscle 0 Speed 3 Wits 1 Craft -1

Fighting 2 Guile 3 Learning 0 Devices -1

Notes

Sarah has had a sore head all morning. It's probably the lingering after effects of ramming up
against the glass ceiling at Marine RD. She had never been the type to take being snubbed
lightly and after being passed over for several advancements she's finally got the message. If
she's going to want to get ahead merely infighting with a loyalty to an overall corporate
body was not the way to go.

Not that she understands all of it but Watchtower Pharmaceuticals are pretty sure that
Marine RD have acquired some kind of tech in the waters of Black Lake. The story about
sending the Intrepid out on a bug hunt is just PR smoke and mirrors. Sarah's contact at
Watchtower, a man who identifies himself as Olsen, has told her that in all probability
Marine RD have acquired some kind of ex-Soviet tech and the Intrepid had been sent out to
perform benchmark or test viability of samples or gather new data. Something. Not just
looking for a sea monster.

Whatever. She's got a signed agreement with Watchtower that if she can acquire something
significant from this mission that would enable Watchtower's board to convince the
shareholders a hostile move on Marine RDs Baltic wing would be worthwhile she was
finally going to get from a corner office to a corner office higher up in some skyscraper
somewhere. The details are frankly unimportant, it's the money and power that are
attracting her now.

So all she has to do is scupper the Marine RD mission and steal the data for herself. Her
"colleague" Len Bolan looks twitchy and she's pleased to see that most of these people don't
know one another. Should make her job all the easier.
Dr Teresa Patterson (Suit: Spades Hits: 3)

Muscle 0 Speed 0 Wits 1 Craft 2

Fighting -1 Guile 0 Learning 4 Devices 1

Notes

Dr Patterson hadn't accepted a position in the Marine RD labs in order to set out on
Cryptozoological Bug Hunts. Admittedly this was technically about retrieving a missing
vessel and looking through the data to find clues as to what happened to it (should they find
it) but that hadn't stopped the ribbing back at the lab. In these parts Black Lake was
notorious because of its reputation as a shadier version of Loch Ness.

Injury had been added to insult when she had been teamed up with the reasonably green
Markus Killian. The boy had only ever had three papers published and seemed to be more
about engineering than actual science. He was the crown prince of jerry rigging and Teresa's
heart had sunk to see him turn up for this assignment with flight cases that clearly
contained a number of experimental devices of dubious provenance.

It seemed her job tonight would be to babysit young Dr Killian and make sure he didn't
gather too much erroneous data in the contents of his toy box. She guessed she was going to
have to keep a very sharp eye on her companion as the incidents of the night unfolded.
Dr Markus Killian (Suit: Diamonds Hits: 4)

Muscle -1 Speed 0 Wits 2 Craft 1

Fighting 0 Guile -1 Learning 2 Devices 3

Notes

Dr Killian had become bored of science, or at least bored of oceanographic sciences and
Marine Reasearch. It seemed to him that oceanographers cared just a little too much about
deep sea treenches and fish stocks and not quite enough about the tools used for
measurement of the same.

Sure, the oceans of the world were huge and deep, and sure a pretty accurate estimate was as
good, for most purposes, as a dead on number when you were dealing with phenomena of
the magnitude of ocean borne fauna. But when did a little more accuracy ever hurt anyone?

Markus Killian had fallen in love with printed circuit boards and the materials of
measurement. He wanted into an engineering position, specifically the engineering of high-
performance scientific data-gathering equipment.

So he had agreed to courier in a few bits for someone on the boat. Marine RD were a weird
company, the pay was good but you had to pick up a company issue cloak, and a company
issue dagger when you reported for induction.

No doubt someone was interested in sabotaging the RV Intrepid's databanks, if discovered.

Or maybe they wanted to siphon something off to sell to a competitor. To be honest he
didn't care. All he cared about was that their success lead to his promotion into a
department where his love of gadgets would really start to pay off.
Sam Pepper (Suit: Clubs Hits: 5)

Muscle 3 Speed 1 Wits -1 Craft 0

Fighting 2 Guile 0 Learning -1 Devices 1

Notes

Sam Pepper had some debts to pay. He had started college and never finished it, he had done
some gambling, he had fostered a shopping addiction, only a minor one. That was what was
so ridiculous about this. He'd been nickeled and dimed into hock, and the only place he
could use his portfolio of rather unimpressive skills was Marine RD's Security division.

He'd only taken the initial position to keep his head above water but his performance and
psyche profile had combined to put him in a position where, if he had been wise with his
wages, he could have dug himself out of the debt he had accrued when he began to work.

That was the whole problem though. Sam Pepper was not good with money and just having
more was just more to waste.

So he had agreed to do something that many people would have balked at, but the bonus on
this job, paid entirely out of the black budget, would sort him out in one go. Even he could
manage that. If he managed it he might even consider doing it again.

According to the instructions he'd received from some voice on the telephone called Gates
he'd find the parts of the weapon he was to use for the job in amongst the parts of a number
of devices brought on board by the tech Killian. Killian didn't even know Pepper, didn't
know what he was bringing on board, apparently, and didn't know that Pepper was who the
parts were for.

Pepper was to assemble his gun (not his RD issue Heckler & Koch, this was some James
Bond "kit" gun). Then he was to kill the Captain they'd sent to pilot the Intrepid, set the
Intrepid on autopilot. Finally, he should use the autopilot data on a key drive that should be
attached to Killian's laptop to get the ship back to the dock before anyone even noticed the
captain was dead.

At least, that was the plan. What could possibly go wrong?

Lydia Cartwright (Suit: Hearts Hits: 4)

Muscle 1 Speed 3 Wits 1 Craft -1

Fighting 2 Guile 0 Learning 1 Devices -1

Notes

Lydia Cartwright remembered the last time she had been wearing this uniform. It had been
about six years ago, November 14th. In the evening she had taken it off, gone home, and the
next day she had taken the exam for SecOps. Since then she'd been wearing plain clothes.

She'd been pulled out of bed as soon as the RV Intrepid had gone dark, approximately 30
hours previously. She'd been quickly briefed: the feeling at the very top of Marine RD was
that there was a saboteur at work; the suspected department was New Acquisitions.
Apparently there were irregularities in their reporting structure. Lydia didn't know what
that meant, only that it was bad.

Lydia hadn't been told what exactly the Intrepid was doing out here. All she had been told
that the nature of what she would be taking part in. This was a "Scatter Op". That meant all
contractors and personnel were strangers to one another. Scatter Ops were a way of
maintaining security during sensitive operations.

This also meant no one knew that Cartwright was SecOps. Ultimately, if it came down to it
she had jurisdiction over this mission, but that wasn't the way she was supposed to play it.
She was mostly there to watch that people were doing their jobs.

Her mission tonight was simple. Watch everyone carefully, stop any plans that New
Acquisitions might try to fulfil on this mission. Most importantly she had to make sure all
the data and any samples got back to landfall in one piece. It was desirable that she should
remain unknown in this situation but if she couldn't help it then she could just take
command.
Rhonda Redoubt – Deck Plan
Intrepid – Top Deck Intrepid – Main Deck
Intrepid – Crew Deck Intrepid – Science Deck
Stremizia Basa